President Donald Trump has chosen oil and gas lobbyist Kathleen Sgamma to lead the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees millions of acres of public lands and underground minerals in the Western U.S.
Sgamma is the president of Denver-based Western Energy Alliance, where she’s worked for nearly two decades to reduce barriers for oil and gas producers extracting from federal lands. In a post on X, she said she’s honored by the nomination to “help unleash American energy.”
Her background aligns with a series of recent federal orders aimed at boosting fossil fuel production. The U.S. Oil and Gas Association praised Trump’s choice, saying Sgamma is an expert on public lands.
“Few if any political appointees from either side can match her experience. She is exactly the type of person we would want to lead the Bureau,” said Tim Stewart, the organization’s president, in a written statement.
But environmental groups slammed the pick, calling it a sharp departure from the agency’s priorities over the past four years when it promoted conservation and tackling climate change.
“This is a huge step backwards to the old days where BLM was primarily engaged in leasing and mining and logging,” said Athan Manuel, who directs the lands protection program at the Sierra Club.
While domestic oil production boomed under President Joe Biden, Manuel noted that Biden placed key areas important for conservation and cultural resources off-limits for drilling, including Chaco Canyon in New Mexico and the Thompson Divide in Colorado. He expressed concern that such areas could be reopened to production.
Under Sgamma’s leadership, the Western Energy Alliance repeatedly sued the Biden Administration over restrictions on oil and gas leasing on public lands.
Michael Freeman, an attorney with Earthjustice in Denver, was often on the opposing side, defending the agency’s policies.
“They claim that the federal bureau should be required to sell oil and gas leases whenever the industry wants them,” he said. “If they have their way, then places that get leased to the oil industry under the Trump Administration won't ever be the same after they get drilled.”
Sgamma’s nomination requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Meanwhile, there’s growing support for returning the BLM headquarters to the West. During his first term, Trump moved the agency’s main offices to Grand Junction, Colo., but President Biden reversed that decision. Now, U.S. Representative Jeff Hurd of Colorado has introduced a new bill to move the agency headquarters back to the state.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
